For anyone doubting if the holy trinity of Bollywood – Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, and Aamir Khan – are showing any signs of slowing down, that doesn’t seem to be the case. While Shah Rukh is on a roll again, with blockbusters Pathaan and Jawan in 2023 and Siddharth Anand’s action thriller King slated to release in cinemas this Christmas, Aamir and Salman seem to be having a tougher time at the box office. While Aamir’s latest release, RS Prasanna’s coming-of-age sports dramedy Sitaare Zameen Par did help him bounce back a little from debacles Thugs of Hindostan (2018) and Laal Singh Chaddha (2022), Salman’s misfortunes continue with the failure of Sikandar last year and uncertainty over the release of his next, Maatrubhumi.
Economics of Khans’ films
But irrespective of the recent bumps, all three Khans continue to fuel the film industry purely on the basis of the massive hype their films generate even today, even over 30 years since they made their debut. “On an average, the digital, satellite, and music rights of a film by any of the three Khans – Shah Rukh, Salman or Aamir – is somewhere between Rs 150 crore and Rs 200 crore,” claimed actor-turned-producer Nikhil Dwivedi in an interview with Vickey Lalwani.
He explained that a large chunk of the budget of any Khan film is recovered from the pre-release business itself. This includes the digital rights sold to a streaming platform, the music sold to music companies, and the satellite rights sold to a television network, in that order. Since none of the three Khans no longer take fixed pay on a film, and share the revenue instead, it considerably reduces the cost of production, a major chunk of which hinges on the A-list star’s fees.
While the budget of any of the three Khans’ films today is much higher, Nikhil spelled out the economics of Prabhu Deva’s 2019 hit cop drama Dabaangg 3, on which he was a co-producer along with Salman and his younger brother Arbaaz Khan. “If the digital, satellite, and music rights sale of his film are between Rs 180 crore and Rs 200 crore, and the film’s budget is Rs 80 crore to Rs 100 crore, then he obviously doesn’t need any money,” said Nikhil.
“He has all the paraphernalia of a producer. The shooting of his films get done just on the money they have received from the advances. If anyone is producing a film with any of the Khans, then I want to assure you they just want to give you work and a chance to be more popular,” he added, claiming that Salman just “gave him a chance to be called a producer” on the threequel.Shah Rukh and Salman’s similarities
While Nikhil has never worked with Shah Rukh, he was once planning to produce an action thriller with Shah Rukh in 2016, which was being co-produced by his banner Saffron Magicworks and Anirudh Dhoot of Videocon. However, the film never saw light of the day. Nikhil maintains that both Shah Rukh and Salman are very different personally, but strikingly similar when it comes to their professional dealings. “They’re very different people. They’re poles apart as people, but their core values are the same. If Shah Rukh or Salman commits to someone, then no paperwork is needed. It’ll happen. They never misuse anyone’s money,”
— said Nikhil.
After making his debut as an actor with the 2008 crime drama My Name Is Anthony Gonsalves, Nikhil turned producer with the 2018 buddy comedy Veere Di Wedding, which he bankrolled along with Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Motion Pictures and Anil and Rhea Kapoor’s Anil Kapoor Films & Communication Network. After producing money-spinners like Veere Di Wedding and Dabangg 3, Nikhil is now backing films like Vikramaditya Motwane’s 2024 cyber thriller CTRL, which released on Netflix India, and Anurag Kashyap’s upcoming crime drama Bandar, starring Bobby Deol, which is slated to release in cinemas this Friday on June 5.
